Pedal rods usually fall out because there was too much freeplay in them.įreeplay means that the pedal and the horizontal lever move too much before causing the vertical rod to rise. This is especially common after the piano has been moved, or if you are one of those players who stomp on the pedals to keep time (shame on you).
Since the rods are usually only inserted into the action levers and the bottom horizontal levers with metal pins, it is very common for them to simply fall out of position, causing the pedal to no longer function and sending the piano player into a panic (there's nothing worse than trying to play a piano with no damper pedal).
In any case, whatever their acoustic function, all vertical pedals are operated in the same fashion. The middle pedal may have any one of several effects, from merely repeating the action of the damper pedal, or raising only the bass dampers as a unit, or dropping a practice "muffler" felt between the piano hammers and the strings to soften the tone. Some vertical pianos have three pedals in imitation of grands. On verticals, the left pedal is usually a "soft" pedal, which simply moves the action closer to the strings to lessen the hammer's blow. The damper, or "sustain" pedal, is the truly important pedal on any piano and is always on the right. This will allow light to help see where the rod connection is. Got that? Grand pedals work the same way, but look a bit different.įirst, remove the front of an upright piano - exposing the action, or lift the lid on smaller verticals. When you step on the pedal it causes the pedal end of the horizontal lever to move down, raising the opposite end, which in turn causes the vertical rod to rise, which then activates the appropriate action mechanism inside the piano. Vertical wood dowel or metal rods connect to these horizontal levers and extend up into the piano to a mechanism in the action. Depress the latch/latches and pull the board forward and out, as shown in the accompanying drawing.Īs can be seen in the following generic illustration, the pedals are typically connected to horizontal wooden (or metal) see-saw type levers. This board is usually secured by a metal spring latch affixed to the underside of the keybed, right in the middle of the piano (or maybe two latchs, one on each side).
To view the pedal mechanism (called "trapwork" by tuners, for any of you who might care), you'll need to remove the kickboard, the front cabinet piece of the piano, under the keyboard. More often than not, the pedal rod has simply fallen out of place, or has too much slack in it, requiring a simple adjustment. And when you call a tuner, you'll pay a service charge, one that might be saved with a little investigation. Fixing vertical pedals that aren't working is probably the most common repair the average piano tuner is called upon to make.
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